some anchor pkgs

Gas Main Break: Solid shots. Color seemed a little cool. I would have liked more wide shots to get an idea of the scene better, and were there any people standing around watching? Reaction shots are good for getting a feel for how the event is affecting the area. The interview with the black man with sky behind needed a different background. If you went about 90 degrees to your right he would have had a building behind to keep that overexposure from happening, but even better would be something that showed the scene.

The story was a little "so what?" but that's not your fault. I would just say listen as you are shooting and if you hear good natsound, grab it and include it, and if you hear a real character talking somebody up, mic him/her up and use that for flavor. It's usually not too hard to find a talker, and they often love the attention. More people and less officials.
 
Obama Medal Sculptor: Unless you've got some really compelling/emotional sound, I can't see why you would want to make your first shot somebody just sitting and talking. "But that's how it was scripted" is a copout. You can build a natural sound open to precede the opening sot or when you are going to see the person soon anyway you can cover it with shots to draw the viewer in. In this case he was specifically talking about the medal and we aren't seeing it.

It didn't really do much for me after that, either, because there wasn't much going on. The shots of him sculpting had no nat sound so it seemed very sterile and distant.

You've got a lot of the technical skills down. Color was good, framing was mostly fine and it was steady and the sound was clean. However, it badly needed a shot of creativity. Introduce some interest with light. Give us some angles that wake us up. Mix up the focal length. Please give us some sound pops. Shoot sequences and build them in edit rather than putting us to sleep with unmotivated dissolves.

I don't know how long you've been shooting but "Entry Level" suggests not long. Assuming that, you've got a good base. Now build on it.
 
Hey Freddie,

Thanks for all the feedback and tips, I really appreciate it!

I will work on getting more nat sound, these packages really had none, which definitely made them a little boring.

As for the medal pkg, it was very sterile as you said. I used the dissolves to slow it down a bit, but in hindsight (always a great thing) I would not have used them. The sequence should speak for itself, and I forced the dissolves.

-Ryan

PS: I've been shooting for just under a year.
 
Hey Ryan, for entry level I thought this was pretty darn good stuff. The gas leak story had well-composed shots. I'd like to see more wide shots, tight shots and reaction shots. I thought I was looking at a lot of similar medium shots. Pacing was slightly off in the middle, it moved a little too quickly. Something I toy around with is this: the tighter the shots, the quicker you can move the piece. The wider the shots, the slower it should move. There's more for the viewer to digest with wide and medium shots. I hope that makes sense.

I felt like I was watching "shots and soundbites" rather than a "story". Maybe mic up some people watching, and let them tell part of the story as they look on rather than doing the head an shoulders interviews... When you get there, maybe you grab your 10-12 shots you need, then go ahead and find somebody, anybody that you can get close to, put a mic on, and just let them be apart of the story. I only need to see so much of the caution tape and officials working.

Obama piece was well shot. I liked how you went on the shoulder for part of it. Being close on the shoulder is a good thing. But I didn't like all the dissolves in the begining.

Hope this helps.

Joe
 
Hi Joe,

I will definitely work on the wide-medium-tight flow that you talked about, as well as putting a mic on someone.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it!
 
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